Hi everyone,
Yesterday some friends and I went to the new-ish-ly renovated gokart track out in Richmond. I’m not sure if you know this about me, but I really enjoy driving at a… how shall we say… lively pace. So this sort of activity is right up my alley, in which we can dart around a closed track in a controlled environment.
The first race was great, my buddies and I had the whole track to ourselves and we were able to really give it into those corners and whip around the hairpins. The second race… well we didn’t exactly have the whole track to ourselves anymore, and those that we were paired with didn’t seem to be as well seasoned behind the wheel as my friends and I were.
Simply put, it was less of a race and more of an obstacle course.
Through the whole 6 minutes that we got, I kept thinking in my head, “how dare these folk come for a race and not even want to race and ruin this outing for us?”. It was frustrating for me to say the least. But then after we left I thought, what if those folk were thinking, “how dare those guys drive so recklessly and dangerously and ruin this outing for us?”
We sometimes go to the same event, participate in the same activity, and even live in the same area, but we can interpret it completely differently. It all depends on why we’re there, what we want, and how we already see the world.
Having said that, a race is a race regardless of why you’re there. The point is the go fast so really, you should go fast.
Here are the readings for next week:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Luke 4:21-30
And a video of me reading those readings:
https://youtu.be/VfgK-p3y_nM
As I promised in today’s sermon, this gospel text is the continuation of today’s gospel text, which had Jesus preaching a super short sermon. After he preaches it, at first the people were like “ok, not bad” but then as Jesus explained a bit about his role and who he ultimately is called to be, the people were more like “ok, actually bad” and tried to throw him off a cliff.
The people, because of their own stubbornness and unwillingness to see God’s work in the world, could not even listen to Jesus. Because of their narrowmindedness of who they are and who Jesus is to them, they couldn’t accept Jesus and his role. Because of the way they had already interpreted their role and position in God’s kingdom, they wanted to stuff Jesus into a box and literally throw it away.
But the beauty of it all is that Jesus is Jesus if we want to believe him or not. God’s truth and good news is truth and good news whether we accept it or not. Love is love, even if we have no idea how to show it.
And the truth is that God shows us love through the life and teaching of Jesus and beyond, even if we can’t see it. But I hope and pray that our eyes be always and continually opened to see how God is present in our lives, leading and guiding us through all the ups and downs that are put in front of us.
Thanks be to God! Have a great week, everyone!